Musical Instrument Store Near Me in Wynwood for Vintage Guitars: Walt Grace Vintage

Walt Grace Vintage, at 300 NW 26th Street, Miami, FL 33127, calls itself a gallery rather than a shop, and the room backs that up. Late-fifties Gibsons and aged Martin dreadnoughts share the space with classic Porsches, framed car prints and a coffee bar built around a Dutch espresso machine. For a guitarist in Wynwood typing musical instrument store near me, this is the address where a vintage Les Paul Special can be played under the gaze of a Ferrari.

The founder is Bill Goldstein, who spent the better part of 25 years as an advertising executive before deciding to follow his passion into a second career. A 2024 WhatNow report dates the founding to 2016. The About page explains the idea plainly: Goldstein always felt that vintage cars and guitars belonged in an art gallery, given the same weight as paintings, and he picked one of the most vibrant art districts in the world to prove it.

That philosophy shows in the opening line of the About page, which states that Walt Grace Vintage is not a car dealership and not a guitar store. The name has a musical source too. The same page closes with a lyric from Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967, the John Mayer song, which suits a business devoted to the dreams people chase with machines and instruments.

Most of the people working the guitar side are players first. Director of operations Vince Castillo grew up around Porsche culture in Puerto Rico, but a Gibson Les Paul at age 15 pulled him toward music, where he worked in performance, production and business. Gabriel Luque, also from San Juan, brings more than a decade in music stores and can talk vinyl or an odd effect pedal as easily as a vintage Stratocaster.

Sebastian Lanes, originally from Cuba by way of Barcelona, is the face of the YouTube channel and a session guitarist around Miami with a weakness for the blues. Felipe Lopez studied audio engineering at Full Sail and sings for the band Veta Ceti. Diego Belmar handles video, recording and amp repair. Between them the team covers vintage electrics, archtops, amps, recording and video, so a question about pickups or tube bias rarely has to wait for a colleague.

The vintage wall is the reason serious players make the trip. In October 2026 the website listed a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Special in TV Yellow at $21,999, a mahogany slab with twin P-90 pickups and a wraparound bridge. Nearby sat a 1963 Gibson Hummingbird in Cherry Sunburst at $12,000, a 1955 Gibson Super 400C archtop and a 1979 Zemaitis Victor acoustic signed under the soundboard by A.C. Zemaitis.

Amps get the same treatment. A 1958 Gibson GA-40 Les Paul combo in tweed, with its original Jensen speaker, sits alongside a pair of Marshall JCM800 heads from the mid-eighties. For newer instruments, the acoustic section carries Martin, Yamaha, Bedell and Gibson, from Little Martin models up to a D-45. Everyday strings are stocked as well, with an Ernie Ball 2221 Regular Slinky set at $8.99.

Setups and repairs run through Larry Rubin, whom the services page calls the resident guitar whisperer. He started repairing guitars in South Florida in 1987 and has played since 1959, much of that time professionally. Away from the bench he surfs, living by the motto of going where the waves are. The services page carries a scheduling form for booking a setup or repair with him.

The store also buys, sells, consigns and trades, and it will make offers on vintage guitars as readily as on old cars. Appraisals start with a phone call to one of the guitar specialists, which is useful if a dusty acoustic has surfaced in a relative's attic. A curation service taps the team's global network to hunt for a specific instrument a customer has wanted since childhood.

The cars are real inventory, not decoration. October 2026 listings included a 1964 Porsche 356 C in Irish Green, a 1974 De Tomaso Pantera, a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL Pagoda and a 2026 Caterham Seven 420 R. Framed prints by artists such as Bart Kuykens hang in the gallery around them, and the gallery page says all profits from its fine art program go to PACT for Animals.

The café is the easiest way to linger without hovering over a guitar. Its centerpiece is a Kees van der Westen Spirit espresso machine imported from the Netherlands, fitted with custom levers styled after an early sixties Jaguar E-Type, and the beans come from La Colombe. A cappuccino in hand also gives you an excuse to stay while a staff member pulls a Hummingbird down for someone else.

Treat the room as a gallery first. Ask a staff member before lifting any guitar from its hanger, keep coffee cups on the bar instead of near the instruments, and give the cars a generous berth, since a belt buckle can scratch paint as easily as nitrocellulose. Tell the staff what you play and ask which vintage amp they would pair it with before you plug in.

Timing matters for a real conversation. The gallery is closed Monday and closes early on Sunday, so weekday afternoons from Tuesday onward give the best chance of an unhurried demo. A Saturday visit fits better with a mural walk than with a long amp comparison. Anyone hoping to sell or consign should send details through the contact form first, so the right specialist expects you.

The store sits on NW 26th Street, a short way west of NW 2nd Avenue. Walk east along NW 26th Street and the Museum of Graffiti comes up almost immediately, a museum devoted to the history of graffiti whose exterior is covered in murals. It makes a natural companion stop for anyone who came for the art half of Walt Grace's pitch.

Keep heading east to NW 2nd Avenue and you reach the Wynwood Walls, the outdoor mural park that most visitors use to get their bearings in the district. Its painted warehouse walls and the surrounding blocks of street art make an easy loop of an hour or so. Circle back along NW 26th Street and finish with a second espresso at the Walt Grace bar.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 am to 7 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm, with the gallery closed Monday. The café keeps longer hours, opening Monday through Friday at 8 am and Saturday and Sunday at 9 am. It closes at 3 pm Monday, 7 pm Tuesday through Saturday and 5 pm Sunday.

The free City of Miami Trolley runs a Wynwood route with a stop at the Wynwood Walls on NW 2nd Avenue. It runs Monday through Saturday and has no Sunday service. Metrorail riders can transfer at Government Center to Metrobus Route 2 into the district. Drivers will find street parking marked with Pay by Phone signs, and shared bike stations dot the neighborhood.